We stand alone I think the guys summed this up pretty well already. Again for me, it is a great song, but the blending of the guitars and synths is just perfectly done, as if they had just always been that way. Again the arrangement is spot on. Another great song.
What's sad is that "Vienna" is known as much for being a song kept off number 1 by a novelty hit than it is for the quality of the track itself. As I was saying regarding Ultravox not having been re-evaluated: Where's the Ultravox documentary on BBC Four or Sky Arts? Where's the Classic Albums episode featuring Vienna? They were never featured in the Rock Family Trees series as I can remember. Have they had any significant appearances in retrospective shows? (Synth Brittania maybe) "We Stand Alone" First time hearing this, but sounds instantly familiar, although surprisingly sparse in the arrangement and production. Less obvious hook-wise than "The Voice" but no less enjoyable.
We Stand Alone An excellent track, but not quite as good as the previous one so I can only give it 4.5/5. This album is off to a great start.
The "Slanted" video was not an official Ultravox music video. It was made for an appearance on a German music/variety show called Bananas. Bananas was great in that they always filmed an alternate video, of sorts, for the musical guest rather than having them just do a mimed performance or play their normal video. There are great alternate/Banana versions of many New Wave classics.
Uther - Interesting to know that salient fact. I'd heard about the clip but had no idea exactly of its provenance. It's kind of ironic in that music videos were developed so that a band wouldn't have to make the rounds to all of the TV shows around the world to mime their latest track, and yet in this case they still did it. Maybe by the time of Bananas, not showing the same clip you saw everywhere was the big feature of the program's music guests. In America [via Canada], in 1981-83 there was SCTV, a 90 minute late night comedy program and the network that paid for it wanted to have musical guests on it when they signed the program on. The producers [mainly the cast themselves] would not agree to most of the requests from NBC, but that one they liked. They were music fans, but they made sure to work the band into the comedy on the program, even if they were eventually miming their latest track. The guests were very eclectic [Classical violin to New Wave] and some performed live so I guess it was down to the artist.
Yeah, the Bananas clips are great. They obviously had a creative art director onboard who like to make the musical appearances quite unique. They were still miming, but it wasn't just the same "standing on stage pretending to play their instruments" look that everyone else did. There was always some interesting angle or artistry happening to or around them. If you search YouTube for "Bananas German TV" you'll see scads of them. And because I don't think it's actually been posted yet:
we stand alone, a rather dark toned song, with a driving beat, crunchy guitar works, and pulsating synths throughout. a moody follow up to the voice. this song, is another standout on the album, lots of great breaks, keyboard solos, and guitar solos intermixed n it. a rather long instrumental outro closes out the song. midge is very urgent in singing the vocals. couldn't find an earlier live version of it, there are lot more recent versions of it now: very good. rating 4/5 later -1
The Voice: My first love by Ultravox. Fantastic track, which they almost did even better live on the "Monument" album. 5/5 We stand alone: Trademark bass synt, combined with tight drums, marvelous guitar playing and Billy is in top form too. Could have been single number three. 5/5
We Stand Alone - this is one that didn't click with me until later, but, like everything else on the album, it contributes to the overall mood. It's a bloody great track, but the strength of the album is that this is, in my view, the weakest on side 1. Watching that clip of The Voice reminded me something; I really think the Ure Ultravox were greater than the sum of their parts. The singing is great, Chris' bassline is amazing, Warren's drumming is exemplary (as ever) and Billy's keyboards are grandiose and melodic. Bring them all together and something really special happens when they are all integrated. I think this is proved later on, with Warren removed, the album U-Vox just does not have the same appeal. I'm not sure that really happens with Foxx Ultravox. This may just be my perception in retrospect as I knew John's solo work before his Ultravox stuff. But he always seems aloof and apart from the band (or that may just be his image).
Years ago I thought, how can it be that much worse? It's just the drummer... Still haven't heard it, and slowly I figured out Warren is one of those people you can't replace - this thread made it even more obvious that he did WAY more than play drums and program drum machines AND he was one of the best in the genre at that.
I consider the two most critical components of Ultravox to be Warren and Billy. Billy is simply classically trained and hella talented, but Warren I think that was the most creative musician in the band. Most drummers would be intimidated by drum machines. Not Cann. He saw them as a way to somewhere neither machines nor traditional drums alone could achieve. A third mind approach to drumming and I daresay one of the first drummers to move drumming to a new mindset entirely in the last 40 years. And if Eleventh Earl Of Mar has not heard "U-Vox," it's to his benefit, though the days of his virgin ears are sadly numbered!
Probably a guy that never got his due for innovation in electronic music - albeit, his most impressive stuff was only visible when played live, though it has to be said Vienna would of been less cutting edge if Warren wasn't around. Only one Peter Gabriel could put up a fight in drum innovation that year, for different reasons. And yeah, a first for me - I'll probably start around the time Lament is being covered as to not be too harsh Rage in Eden Album finally gets time to apply the atmosphere into a piece that otherwise wouldn't be as convincing. It sounds emotionless. It's that kind of sadness that you feel when something really bad happens, you kind of don't feel anything. Like a purgatory of self reflection that doesn't get positive or negative. Appropriately into track 4. 4/5
Catching up: "The Voice": A great single, catchy without being cloying. As others have mentioned, the bassline in the verses adds some textural variety to the proceedings, and Midge's vocal is strong enough to carry a song about voice convincingly: 4.8/5 I've never seen the video before it was posted here--didn't get MTV until summer of 1982, and the only older Ultravox video they ever played was "Vienna" (and I don't think any radio station I listened to played any Ultravox, ever). I really liked the way it suggested different interpretations of the lyrics, and loved the overall stylishness. Someone posted in the past few days that Ultravox lacked the distinctive gimmick that other synthpop bands had, but I feel like they did have one in their retro '20s-'40s (art deco) video and album art aesthetic. In some ways, they kept up this distinct aesthetic more consistently over their main four album run than most of their peers such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, or Talk Talk, IMHO. "We Stand Alone": A very well constructed and performed song that may suffer a bit in the album sequence from following such a similar song in tempo and mood. I enjoy the almost physical sensation of movement that comes during the "and when we move...we move in time" sections, created in part from the contrast between the staccato rhythms and the slyly bending synth parts: 4.5/5 "Rage in Eden": Quite possibly my favorite single Ultravox track. This is simply startling in a way I have a hard time describing. It manages to combine the atmospherics and feel of Gregorian chant with a world-weary and slightly sinister lead vocal, backed by a coldly hypnotic programmed sequence, culminating what feels almost like an out-of-body experience. I never realized that the haunting backing vocals were backwards vocals from "Death in the Afternoon"--I love it! I could never make them out, but thought they were intoning something along the lines of "Of our Eden within, our memory will own." But the truth is more interesting than any conventional lyric might have been. To me, this is Ultravox at peak creativity--simply breathtaking: 5/5
Just to warn you, the absence of Warren (disappointing though it is) may just be among the least important factors in what makes U-Vox so dissatisfying to fans of their previous work. I noticed in the lengthy interview, Billy referred to it as a "rubbish album" and I doubt many will disagree. That said, I agree that Warren is a kind of secret weapon on these Midge-era albums. His backing or whispered/spoken vocals, for example, are highlights wherever they occur, IMHO, and give the band much of the stylistic distinctiveness to which I referred in my previous post..
I am a fan of U-Vox, and to me, I was glad they were still making albums at this point. Yes, the horns are overkill (not time to kill), and some of the tracks are lacking. However, there are some great tracks on there, and I am HUGE Big Country fan, so to me, when I saw Drums – Mark Brzezicki, I knew it was going to be quality drumming work. Because he was massive with Big Country, and also did an amazing job on Midge Ure tracks also. So to me, yes Warren Cann being gone changed the dynamic. But I'm happy with the choice they made. later -1
Rage in Eden Another great track but, after all this talk of how important Warren was to Ultravox, I find the drums a bit loud/distracting in the mix on this one - 4/5.
Rage in Eden, To me, the title track is a huge letdown, It copies Vienna in so many ways, which is the first thing that struck me, in tone, and execution. But its no way grandiose, or breaking any new kind of ground. The lyrics sound pretty monotone, and the choral backup behind Midges voice has been done before, and in much better ways. I kept hoping the song would pick up, or transition to another state, but it never did. The guitar strums are plain, and only play a few chords. The keyboards are simplistic, and the drums are very repetitive. The lyrics make it kind of a ballad, but its not really that either. It's more just like a story, but a very dull one. The song just has a weak fade at the end, and doesn't really come to a conclusion either. Just a distorted voice, like a ghostly radio going out of tune. Not a fan at all. Rating 2/5 later -1
"Rage In Eden" I like this one - the change in tempo and mood from the previous tracks, the minimal guitar strums. Understated and atmospheric.
I love this track too (everything on Side 1 is superb). It seems a funny thing to say but one of my favourite moments in the whole Ultravox canon is when that 'click' comes on at the end and with no pause the string riff for I Remember (Death In The Afternoon) starts up. These guys (and Conny Plank) were absolute masters of structuring an album so it really flows.
Rage In Eden The ponderous, yet desolate, title cut sported the most unique rhythms of the album and reeked of decadence and unease; as if something crucial had been lost and the retribution for losing it, if we only knew what it was… was forthcoming. And it would be a terrible blow. As the song reached its conclusion, the sound faded in signal intensity and flattened to filtered lo-fi radio reception as sounds of shortwave drift enveloped and overwhelmed the music until the sharp foreground click of a radio being turned off at its switch jump cut immediately into the next song. It’s a brilliantly executed nod to Pink Floyd’s similar segue at the conclusion of “Have A Cigar.” Only better. I had no idea about the backwards chorus from the next song bleeding forward back into this one! It took the Ultravox penchant for reverse echo technique to its furthest conclusion! Like some sort of temporal anomaly bleeding through into the past from the future. 5/5
Rage in eden: A moody and gloomy track. I still fail to count in when one of the electronic percussions comes in the beginning. The click sound at the end and that ties it together with I´ll remember is brilliant. 4,5/5
Rage in Eden. This track has a reflective, pensive kind of feel. The synthetic percussion relentlessly moves forward, like a working man past the point of caring, just trudginging through the drudgery. The music is glistening saddness. I like this track also, and find that its barren despairing sound works really well. I like the radio tuning out at the end too... almost like it has given up and succumbed. The lyrics enter a somewhat morose poetic line. I am not sure who the focus is, nor the interpretation thereof, but it suits the music, and sounds apt.
